Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) and three others were indicted today by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on corruption charges linked to a failed solar energy project.
Prosecutors said that Sufin accepted NT$5 million (US$152,590) in bribes to pressure the Southern Region Water Resources Branch of the Water Resources Agency to restart a project to build a floating solar power station on Pingtung County’s Mudan Reservoir (牡丹水庫).
Via his office director, surnamed Hung (洪), Sufin accepted the bribes in 2019 and 2020 under the guise of political campaign donations, the office said.
Photo: CNA
It pressed charges against Sufin and Hung under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) for taking bribes in exchange for performing official duties.
Business developers surnamed Tsai (蔡) and Chih (池), along with a former development manager of Maiora Renewable Energy Co surnamed Hsieh (謝), were also indicted under the act for offering bribes to public officials without requiring them to violate their official duties.
Upset that the legislator could not pay back the entire kickback when the project failed to materialize, Tsai reported Sufin to the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, prosecutors said.
His confession and cooperation in the case led prosecutors to recommend that Tsai receive a reduced or waived sentence.
Sufin was previously sentenced to eight years and six months in prison in a separate corruption scandal for accepting bribes from Pacific Distribution Investment Co over ownership of the Pacific SOGO Department Store chain.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS